Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Google Android News Android Forums

Google Android News Android Forums

Transform your DROID RAZR into a RAZR MAXX for $110

Posted: 27 Mar 2012 05:00 PM PDT

For many DROID RAZR owners out there, the DROID RAZR MAXX is a topic of bitterness and jealousy. I would certainly not be impressed if my cellphone carrier decided to release a nearly identical version of my new phone with a gigantic increase in battery life and sell it at the same exact price only 2 months after mine was released. However for the handy men and women out there, there is a solution that might be of some interest. Cellphone Repair Shop has created a DROID RAZR MAXX conversion kit that will set you back $110. Apparently the phones have identical hardware except for the back housing/battery cover. The kit includes:

  • Instruction manual with step-by-step guidance
  • 3300 mAh battery
  • DROID RAZR MAXX back housing/battery cover
  • SIM/SD card door
  • Adhesive tape

The base kit doesn’t seem to include the tools necessary to unscrew and pry the back cover off, however you can request to have those included for an additional cost. I realize that this may not be the perfect solution for some, but for those that want to double their battery life, this would be cheaper than breaking contract or even using an upgrade to grab a RAZR MAXX. Let us know if this kit will be the answer to your DROID RAZR woes in the comments.

source: Cellphone Repair Shop

Ofcom stalls Everything Everywhere’s UK 4G launch

Posted: 27 Mar 2012 03:17 PM PDT

Barely two weeks ago we brought you the news that the UK’s largest Network Everything Everywhere was set to launch the UK’s first ever 4G Network. I’m afraid, fellow Brits, that you’ll have to put the champagne on ice for the time being as UK spoilsports Regulators Ofcom has delayed giving its approval in order to give competitors more time to respond to the deal. When Ofcom granted initial approval earlier this month, rival networks were given until April 17th to come forward with any issues. Vodafone, O2 and Three were all quick to voice concerns and subsequently the deadline to log issues has been pushed back to May 8th.

As an Android enthusiast who has been waiting patiently for 4G networks to arrive in the UK this setback is a massive blow. While the rest of the world seem to be welcoming more carriers to the 4G party and upping speeds, the UK remains years behind. Hopefully all of the squabbling doesn’t stand in the way of progress for too long, the value of shaving an extra couple of seconds of that Angry Birds download cannot be overlooked.

UK readers let us know your thoughts on the UK 4G fiasco in the comments below.

source : The Verge

[Leak] Google Drive Screenshot Shows 2GB of Storage, On Tap for Mid-April

Posted: 27 Mar 2012 02:30 PM PDT

GigaOM today cited sources about an April release of Google Drive, with a 1GB free storage limit. Today we received a tip from an anonymous but reliable source letting us know that the April release date was in fact accurate, until it was recently changed to the “week of April 16th.” What’s more interesting is the earlier reported storage limit. It has been said that Google Drive will have a 1GB limit but the leaked screenshot we’ve obtained from our tipster shows otherwise. Based off of what we see below, Drive users are going to be privy to 2GB of free storage, instead of the rumored 1GB.
Although the above image clearly states 2GB of free space, our tipster makes claim that there will possibly be up to 5GB’s of free storage with referrals and other similar incentives. I guess we’ll just have to wait until April to know for sure.

Thanks, Whomever you are!!

Voice-controlled personal assistant app Utter! APK now available

Posted: 27 Mar 2012 11:16 AM PDT

Ever since the release of the iPhone 4S, Android developers everywhere as well as Google themselves have been working to create their own version of Siri. Now that is not to say that Apple was the first to incorporate voice-to-text features and voice search functionality in their smartphones. We all know that Google had this up and running in Android for the last couple of years. Just to be clear, Siri does all of this and a lot more as well and it’s the extra stuff that has many users and developers interested. There are several Siri-like Android apps in the works and XDA developer brandall has been working on a voice-controlled personal assistant of his own, called Utter!. Last time we checked, the app was in early beta form and from the latest forum activity, it’s clearly still a work in progress. XDA has now released an early-alpha APK for the hardened tester community. Utter! has focused on interactions with specific apps that are in your phone to separate itself from the pack. Feel free to check out our previous article for more info and a video of Utter! in action.

source: XDA

30 Million Smartphones Featuring NFC Shipped In 2011, Number Could Possibly Grow Up To 700 Million In 2016

Posted: 27 Mar 2012 10:47 AM PDT

If you’re a non-believer when it comes to embracing Near Field Communications yet, here’s a reason why you may want to start: NFC-based smartphone sales increased— a lot. According to Berg Insight, the global sales of NFC-based smartphones increased ten-fold in 2011 to 30 million units. That’s right folks— 30 million units. Berg Insight believes NFC-equipped devices are only now scratching its surface too as it forecasts NFC-based smartphone sales will reach 700 million by 2016.

The reason for the astounding forecast? It’s simple really: Berg Insight looked at the global rise in smartphone adoption which also drives higher attach rates for other wireless connectivity technologies in handsets including GPS, Bluetooth and WLAN. The connectivity technologies are already a standard feature on high-end smartphones and most medium- and low-end models, so declining costs will also enable broader integration in the featurephone segment that is rapidly gaining smartphone-like functionality. This basically means more and more wireless technologies (including NFC) are becoming more and more standard, while more and more people are buying smartphones faster than ever before.

Guess this means we’ll be seeing more services such as Google Wallet and of course “Beaming” info to your friends or family. Hit the break for the full presser.

 
 
Shipments of NFC-enabled handsets reached 30 million units in 2011Gothenburg, Sweden – March 26, 2012: According to a new research report by Berg Insight, global sales of handsets featuring Near Field Communication (NFC) increased ten-fold in 2011 to 30 million units. Growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 87.8 percent, shipments are forecasted to reach 700 million units in 2016. The global rise in smartphone adoption is also driving higher attach rates for other wireless connectivity technologies in handsets including GPS, Bluetooth and WLAN. These connectivity technologies are already a standard feature on high-end smartphones and most medium- and low-end models. Declining costs will also enable broader integration in the featurephone segment that is rapidly gaining smartphone-like functionality.The attach rate for GPS among GSM/WCDMA/LTE handsets reached 31 percent in 2011 and grew to 38 percent for all air interface standards. Shipments of WLAN-enabled handsets have more or less doubled annually in the past four years and the attach rate increased to 33 percent in 2011. WLAN connectivity in handsets enables a range of use cases including offloading data traffic from increasingly congested mobile networks, media synchronisation and indoor navigation services. “Reliable indoor navigation systems for handsets need hybrid location technologies that fuse signal measurements from multiple satellite systems like GPS and GLONASS with cellular and WLAN network signals, together with data from sensors such as accelerometers, gyroscopes, compasses and altimeters”, said André Malm, Senior Analyst, Berg Insight. He adds that periodic calibrations using satellite and wireless network signals are necessary to compensate for the low data accuracy and high drift obtained from low cost sensors used in handsets today.

The NFC technology for short-range wireless point-to-point communication reached a breakthrough in 2011 when several leading handset vendors released more than 40 NFC-enabled handsets. NFC can be used for countless applications such as paring devices to establish Bluetooth or WLAN connections, information exchange, electronic ticketing and secure contactless payments. “Even though it will take some time before the stakeholders agree on business models for payment networks, other use cases such as reading tags and easy pairing of devices may well be compelling enough for handset vendors to integrate NFC in mid- and high-end devices already today” concluded Mr Malm.

Coby Releases 9 and 7-Inch Budget Friendly Kyros ICS Tablets

Posted: 27 Mar 2012 10:45 AM PDT

Back at CES we got a glimpse at many of the high end devices that are currently being released today but it’s always nice to see the budget friendly ones as well. We previously told you about Coby’s line of affordable ICS tablets and today two of them are finally available for purchase.

The 7-inch  Kyros MID7042-4 retails for $179 and the 9.7-inch Kyros MID9742-B goes for $279. Both tablets have a single-core 1GHz ARM Cortex-A8 processor, 1GB of RAM, 8GB internal storage, microSD slots, HDMI output, Wi-Fi, and ship running ICS. The 7-inch model sports a 16:9 touchscreen with an 800 x 480 resolution, and the 9-inch variant get a resolution increase to 1024 x 768. Both tablets are available now and Coby plans to offer additional 8, 9, and 10-inch models later this spring. It’s great to see more ICS devices being released, especially more budget friendly ones. Hit up the source link for more details.

Kyros MID9742-B

 

source: Coby
 via: Electronista

 

Snapdragon Processors Presents: The One Charge Challenge (Video)

Posted: 27 Mar 2012 10:29 AM PDT

Qualcomm is making thing extra interesting with their new chips in the form of a contest, The One Charge Challenge.  The company is offering the chance to win phones and tablets featuring Snapdragon chips in them by submitting a photo or a video showing off what you can do on a single charge.  Check out the videos below of the Bug Circus and a device being shipped around the world, traveling 36,000 miles on a single charge filming individuals shooting funny videos of optical illusions.  It’s pretty neat.  The device supposedly touched Los Angeles, New York, Shanghai, Moscow, Dubai, Paris, London, Rio, Mumbai and Istanbul all within 20 days.  That’s pretty fascinating if you ask us.  If you’ve got a quirky idea of your own, whether it be a photo or a video, check out the source link for more details and to enter.  Good luck.  Feel free to share your photos and videos in the comments as well.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

source: Snapdragon FB Page

March 30th Samsung mystery event revealed

Posted: 27 Mar 2012 10:16 AM PDT

Four days ago, we reported that a Phones4U store in London had posted a large Samsung sign with the words “Coming 30.03.12″ in their window. Many of us speculated that this could possibly be the launch date of the highly anticipated Galaxy S III. After all, this specific store location was the chosen one for the exclusive release of the Galaxy Nexus at its launch. Unfortunately the folks over at Pocket-lint have confirmed that the mystery display is no more than a store reopening date. The Phones4U shop is undergoing some renovations and will soon reopen with a new Samsung phone floor. These details were confirmed by actual renovators in the store as well as Phones4U employees working at another nearby location. It looks like we are back to waiting and hoping to hear something from Samsung in the near future.

source: Pocket-lint

Google I/O 2012 Sells Out In Record Time

Posted: 27 Mar 2012 10:03 AM PDT

This morning tickets went on sale for the yearly Google I/O conference at 7AM PST, and just like in years past, tickets sold out in record time. Despite the price of admission being doubled this year to $900 for general admission, it only took around 23 minutes to sell out. When you compare this years sales to previous years, it took 90 days to sell out in 2009, 50 days in 2010, and only 59 minutes to sell out in 2011. Google’s Vic Gundotra claims more than 6,250 queries per second hit the I/O sales servers the minute tickets went on sale this morning. It’s clearly obvious more and more people are taking interest in the products that Google and Android are going to be showcasing for the upcoming year (that or unfortunately the free swag that has been given out in years prior).

Taking place from June 27th – 29th at the Moscone Center in San Fransico, Google I/O is the place to be to learn about all the awesome new things the company has in store for us. For those of you who were unable to secure a ticket have no fear. Talk Android will be live on scene, reporting all the details as it unfolds. So even though you are still $900 richer than those who landed a ticket to this years show, you can still stay up to date with all the news as it happens. Talk Android will make sure of it!

source: The Verge

 

 

Verizon And LG Introduce The Mid-Range LTE Capable “Lucid” For $80

Posted: 27 Mar 2012 09:53 AM PDT

The LG Lucid has finally made its way to Big Red and will be available this Thursday, March 29th at a Verizon store near you. The device is going for the low low price of $79.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate and on a 2-yr contract.  If you’ve been looking for an LTE enabled device without breaking the bank, this is it. The handset sports a 4-inch Gorilla glass IPS display @ 800 x 480 res, a 1.2 GHz dual-core CPU, Gingerbread 2.3.x and a 5 meg camera.  Think you can use this phone for the next 2 years?  To check out the full specs and  press release hit the break.

Additional features:

  • Android™ 2.3 Gingerbread, upgradable to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich
  • 5-megapixel rear-facing autofocus camera with flash and full HD (1080p) video capture
  • Front facing camera for video chatting with friends and family
  • Video Producer – create and edit HD videos right on Lucid by LG
  • 1.2 GHz dual-core processor and 1 GB of RAM for fast Web browsing and multitasking
  • Virtual QWERTY keyboard with Swype® technology
  • SmartShare – share media with friends and colleagues wirelessly to DLNA®-enabled devices

Pricing and availability:

  • Lucid by LG will be available starting March 29 in Verizon Wireless Communications Stores and online atwww.verizonwireless.com for $79.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate with a new two-year customer agreement. Customers will receive the rebate in the form of a debit card; upon receipt, customers may use the card as cash anywhere debit cards are accepted.
  • Customers who purchase a Lucid by LG will need to subscribe to a Verizon Wireless Nationwide Talk plan beginning at $39.99 monthly access and a smartphone data package starting at $30 monthly access for 2 GB of data.

 

 

Step Up To The Verizon Wireless 4G LTE Network With Lucid™ By LG Affordability and Simplicity Combine for an Ideal Mobile Experience

Verizon Wireless and LG Mobile today announced Lucid™ by LG, exclusively for Verizon Wireless, will be available starting March 29 in Verizon Wireless Communications Stores and online atwww.verizonwireless.com.

Lucid by LG is designed to create an easy-to-learn, easy-to-use experience for first-time smartphone users. The slim and compact design features a stunning 4-inch touchscreen display protected by Corning® Gorilla® Glass that gives customers superb brightness, enhanced clarity and readability, even while outdoors. Powered by America's fastest 4G network, Lucid by LG customers have access to 4G LTE coverage in over 200 markets covering more than 200 million people.

Lucid by LG is packed with features to make the smartphone experience easy, while also increasing productivity. Customers can use the lock screen shortcuts to instantly access the phone, messaging, voicemail and camera application from the lock screen. Customers also no longer have to stop what they're doing to reply to texts by using the Quick Reply feature, as text message notifications pop up on the screen and allow customers to reply directly from the Quick Reply notification. The Quick Dialer widget lets customers make calls directly from a home screen panel without having to open the phone application. Additionally, Lucid by LG has Guided Tours right on the device, which provides step-by-step tutorials for customers who want to learn more about their new phone.

Business professionals can take advantage of the Polaris Office app on Lucid by LG which allows customers to easily open, create and edit Microsoft® Office documents, including Word, PowerPoint® and Excel®. Verizon Wireless' 4G LTE network takes Lucid by LG to the next level, loading websites 10 times faster than 3G, making it that much easier for a professional to stay up to speed on recent news and keep in touch with colleagues. The mobile hotspot feature lets professionals connect to up to 10 Wi-Fi-enabled devices to the Verizon Wireless 4G LTE network, making it easy for teams to work from a remote location.

Additional features:

  • Android™ 2.3 Gingerbread, upgradable to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich
  • 5-megapixel rear-facing autofocus camera with flash and full HD (1080p) video capture
  • Front facing camera for video chatting with friends and family
  • Video Producer – create and edit HD videos right on Lucid by LG
  • 1.2 GHz dual-core processor and 1 GB of RAM for fast Web browsing and multitasking
  • Virtual QWERTY keyboard with Swype® technology
  • SmartShare – share media with friends and colleagues wirelessly to DLNA®-enabled devices

Pricing and availability:

  • Lucid by LG will be available starting March 29 in Verizon Wireless Communications Stores and online atwww.verizonwireless.com for $79.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate with a new two-year customer agreement. Customers will receive the rebate in the form of a debit card; upon receipt, customers may use the card as cash anywhere debit cards are accepted.
  • Customers who purchase a Lucid by LG will need to subscribe to a Verizon Wireless Nationwide Talk plan beginning at $39.99 monthly access and a smartphone data package starting at $30 monthly access for 2 GB of data.

For more information on Verizon Wireless products and services, visit a Verizon Wireless Communications Store, call 1-800-2 JOIN IN or go to www.verizonwireless.com. Follow @VZWnews on Twitter for the latest news on Verizon Wireless.

About Verizon Wireless

Verizon Wireless operates the nation's largest 4G LTE network and largest, most reliable 3G network. The company serves nearly 108 million total wireless connections, including 92.2 million retail customers. Headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., with nearly 82,000 employees nationwide, Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications (NYSE, NASDAQ: VZ) and Vodafone (LSE, NASDAQ: VOD). For more information, visitwww.verizonwireless.com. To preview and request broadcast-quality video footage and high-resolution stills of Verizon Wireless operations, log on to the Verizon Wireless Multimedia Library atwww.verizonwireless.com/multimedia.

About LG Electronics, Inc.
LG Electronics, Inc. (KSE: 066570.KS) is a global leader and technology innovator in consumer electronics, mobile communications and home appliances, employing more than 93,000 people working in over 120 operations around the world. With 2010 global sales of 55.8 trillion Korean won (USD 48.2 billion), LG comprises four business units: Home Entertainment, Mobile Communications, Home Appliance, and Air Conditioning & Energy Solutions. LG is one of the world's leading producers of flat panel TVs, mobile devices, air conditioners, washing machines, and refrigerators. LG has signed a long-term agreement to become both a Global Partner and a Technology Partner of Formula 1™. As part of this top-level association, LG acquires exclusive designations and marketing rights as the official consumer electronics, mobile phone and data processor of this global sporting event. For more information, please visit www.lg.com.

About LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company
The LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company is a leading global mobile communications and information company. With its cutting-edge technology and innovative design capabilities, LG creates handsets that provide an optimized mobile experience to customers around the world. LG is pursuing convergence technology and mobile computing products, while continuing its leadership role in mobile communication with stylish designs and smart technology. For more information, please visit www.lgmobilephones.com.

 
Posted by at 6:01 AM

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)